


it's you and me, i know it's my destiny

by starreli



Series: pokemon au [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Gen, also they're not technically together relationship wise in this one but. they are together, do i care how cheesy that is? no, happy belated birthday/merry christmas/whatever cj!!!!!!!!, hoo boy this doesn't even scratch the surface of the 17 full pages of notes i have for this au huh, i am so tired. just take this lmao, i will add more to this eventually, is the title from the pokemon theme song? yes, nico also loves pokemon don't worry, oh warning for a little big of injury mention, they have a good time except when they don't, will is probably very ooc but. i tried, will loves pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22473274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starreli/pseuds/starreli
Summary: Will stumbles across an injured Pokemon Trainer in the woods, and, well, the rest is history.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: pokemon au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616947
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	it's you and me, i know it's my destiny

**Author's Note:**

  * For [buoyantsaturn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/gifts).



“A claydol?” Will blinked, gawking for a moment before he looked up and down the dirt path to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating or something.

Nothing. Just him, and the claydol, which was still hovering on the other side of the road. Two or three - or four, maybe, it was hard to tell - of its red eyes were fixed on him.

Silence, for a long minute, before the claydol quickly spun in place and started back into Pinwheel Forest.

“Hey, wait!” He called after the floating pokemon, concerned. He hesitated a second, shouldered his bag, and went after it.

As he hurried after the claydol though the forest, he worried. Claydol were by no means native to Unova, especially in its various forests. If a wild claydol was _here_ of all places, a couple miles outside Nacrene City, then there was something wrong with its natural habitats and that was a far bigger problem than Will was prepared to deal with.

However...the claydol didn’t startle away from him or lash out. That most likely meant it had been around people before, and _that_ meant...

...did it have a trainer? Was something wrong? Since claydol had no traditional means of communication with humans - like movable limbs, or a vocal tract - they were notoriously difficult to understand.

This claydol was apparently not.

As they both advanced into the Pinwheel Forest, the claydol would frequently watch Will with one of its piercing red eyes for just a moment before continuing forward.

Will huffed under his breath as he jogged, growing less concerned and more annoyed as time went on with no end in sight.

It was also possible the claydol was luring him somewhere, and Will was just heading towards his doom - plus his bag was starting to feel too heavy - but as soon as he thought about maybe turning around-

-suddenly, there _was_ and end in sight, as he burst through the treeline only to lurch to a halt a step later.

He was in a fairly small clearing. Will could easily toss a stone from where he stood, and it would land far beyond the clearing’s reach.

No wonder he hadn’t noticed anything was there until he literally ran into it.

Will thought the clearing empty at first, bewildering him, until he spotted the claydol near a small, makeshift tent at the far end of the clearing. The claydol was still staring at him, though it was now slowly rotating in place.

That was the first unusual thing Will noticed.

While baltoy were known to spin for nearly every action they took, claydol, on the other hand, had evolved past that need. Their psychic powers were strong enough that they could simply hover in place.

If this claydol had to expend energy like this, it meant something was _very_ wrong.

A faint, pained noise coming from the tent confirmed that.

Will was kneeling at the tent’s entrance before he could think.

Without even glancing at the claydol, he pushed aside the ragged blanket serving as a tent door and peered inside. In the dim light, it was hard for him to make out much, but he could see someone propped up against something in the back of the tent.

What caught his eye the most was the reflection of light on the blood.

Will yanked the blanket door off entirely, needing to get a better look without disturbing the other person.

...It was not pleasant.

Through the remnants of his shirt, Will could see three long, deep gashes stretching from his chest down towards his hip. The gashes steadily oozed blood, and the stains were widespread.

They looked exactly like wounds from a sneasel. A wild one, most likely.

Blood trickled down the side of his head, matting his wild, dark hair, but there wasn’t enough for Will to be too concerned about it. Head wounds did bleed a lot, after all, so the less blood the better.

That seemed to be the worst of it, though, and Will sighed in relief.

Pokemon attacks weren’t common, but they were usually fatal. This one was lucky to be alive, if only just.

He was also lucky Will was probably the only healer out there for miles. The boy would have his claydol to thank for that when he woke up.

And, Will thought as he took off his bag and got to work, he would wake up. Will would make sure of it.

* * *

Will stayed the rest of the day by the stranger's side, alternating between checking on his wounds and trying not to fall asleep. He had to move them both outside the tent after a while, in order to examine the boy closer, and it was then he suddenly realized it was sunset.

He’d been there all day and hadn’t even noticed.

As soon as he moved operations, the claydol was a fixture by his side - clearly unwilling to move aside even an inch further away.

Sure, it made Will's work more difficult, but he didn't have the heart to forcibly move it. A little too unnecessarily cruel for him.

It was a couple of hours into his self-assigned shift when Will started to notice there were other pokemon around them aside from claydol.

It took a while, but after one too many shadowy figures he saw from the corner of his eyes, he figured he wasn't alone.

Well, aside from claydol and the boy.

Now, Will was obviously wary of anything that might creep up on him, as he wasn't really prepared to deal with that, but...he didn't feel threatened at all. The extra eyes felt sort of comforting, if he was being honest.

Will had a sneaking suspicion about what type of pokemon the stranger dealt with. He was also bound to have more than one, and since ghost types weren't usually fond of staying in their pokeballs, it was most likely the other person's team that was watching him.

"...I promise I'm doing everything I can." he quietly reassured, though whether he was comforting himself, the stranger, or their pokemon was unknown. He turned to look straight into the woods for the first time, directly making eye contact with the eyes of the shadow he had seen the most often. "He will be safe."

A small noise, some haunted, warbling chirp, and Will fought hard not to tense up as a shape slowly appeared from the dark.

It was small, its floating body barely larger than Will’s forearm. Its head was encased in a strikingly white hollow stump, with the rest of its body a dense shadow. Two large blue eyes stared back at Will.

A phantump.

Will smiled warmly in spite of the situation, and relaxed. Phantump were usually gentle - if not a little mischievous - pokemon, and Will was rather fond of them anyways.

"Hello," he said softly, keeping his posture nonthreatening, "is this your friend?"

The phantump trilled as it came closer, glancing between Will and the stranger.

"I see. Well, don't you worry - I'm gonna fix 'im right up for you. I got here just in time." he continued to talk, voice gentle, as he fixed the brunet boy up.

There wasn't much else left to do, honestly, aside from wait.

Will had patched up the wounds on his chest, as well as his head wound, and could only hope there was no scarring.

(Though, he thought to himself as he examined the boy’s already heavily-scarred body, a few more wouldn't make much of a difference.)

As the minutes ticked by, and Will used the rest of his water bottle to clean the blood from the other boy’s - admittedly _very_ cute - face, the phantump seemed to realize Will wasn't a threat, and sat down by the two humans.

Will didn't think he had ever seen a phantump actually _sit_ before, and...well, it was frankly adorable.

The shadowy part of its body either disappeared or retracted into its head, leaving the stump to simply sit on the ground near the stranger - its trainer, Will figured.

It would make curious noises every now and then, and Will would explain what he was doing. That seemed to satisfy the little ghost every time - for a few minutes, until it chirped inquisitively and the cycle would start over again.

It was around midnight when Will had to finally sit back and admit all he could do now was simply wait for the boy to wake up.

Will yawned, eyes sliding closed as the exhaustion suddenly hit him all at once.

_Arceus_ , was he tired... Good thing he didn't have any plans the next day - or, well, later that day, technically.

He stood up and stretched, feeling the phantump's glowing eyes on him, and winced as he heard several cracks from his spine.

Yikes.

After the feeling came back in his legs, he walked to the tent to find some kind of coverage for the boy - there was no way he wanted to risk moving him, stable as he was. He came back and draped a blanket over the other's body, making sure to not disturb the bandages, before settling down a little ways away.

Using his coat as a blanket and his arm as a pillow, Will quickly drifted off. The last thing he remembered was wondering what color the stranger's eyes were.

* * *

Will woke up alone.

It was well past noon when he did finally wake, the sun blinding him into consciousness.

He blinked rapidly and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he looked around the clearing.

The now _empty_ clearing.

He paused.

There was no sign that anyone had ever been there at all, he noticed as he stood up and gathered his bearings.

No tent, no supplies, no pokemon, and no boy.

Will had time for a single, terrified thought that maybe something had taken the other boy away while they slept and maybe he was in _danger_ and oh Arceus was the boy dead and Will just let it _happen_ -?

-before a scrap of paper floating down from his chest caught his eye and he froze.

Confused, he bent over to pick it up and read it as he straightened. 

' _thank you._ ’ it read, the words hastily scribbled with what might have been charcoal.

Will carefully folded and pocketed the note, and as he packed up his things to move on to Nimbasa City, he found a smile on his face that wouldn’t quite go away no matter what he did.

* * *

“And you’re sure you don’t want to spend the night?” Nurse Joy asked again, watching Will with a worried look from behind her desk.

Will beamed at her, standing all the way up as he finished packing and shouldered his bag.

His new charge slept soundly in his arms, the little oddish worn out from its long day.

“I’m sure! I gotta hit the road and get to Nimbasa City as soon as I can.” he patiently reminded her for the fourth time.

“But it’s so late! It’s too dangerous to be travelling that late, kid!” Before Will could interrupt - he was _not_ a kid, thank you very much - Nurse Joy went on. “There’s been sightings of some dangerous looking pokemon around these woods recently...”

Will paused, the image of a small little phantump chirping softly at him flashing through his head.

“...I’ll be alright.”

Nurse Joy huffed, but Will could tell she wasn’t truly mad at him.

She crossed her arms and fixed him with a kind, stern look. “Well, you be safe out there, alright? Stay on the road, don’t talk to strangers, don’t take any-”

“I got it, I got it!” Will laughed, shaking off the feeling from before. Surely no one would think the poor phantump dangerous. It was too cute for that! “I’ve done this before, don’t worry.”

He doubled checked he had everything in his bag, gently shifting the oddish before settling it back safely in his arms. He offered a friendly nod to Nurse Joy and her chansey as he turned and left the pokecenter.

As he left, someone else came in at the same time, causing him to instinctively hold the door open for them with his shoulder since his arms were full.

“Ope, sorry! Lemme just scoot past you there.” Will smiled. Then he did a double take as the other person walked in, confused by how familiar they looked.

Will hesitated a moment before quietly stepping back inside the pokecenter, eyes focused on the boy now approaching Nurse Joy’s desk like Will himself had done not half an hour earlier.

However, Will’s reception had been far nicer than _this_.

“...Welcome.” Nurse Joy said, like she always did, but Will had never heard her so dismissive and flat before. The other boy remained silent.

“Here you are.”

With that, Nurse Joy slid a single pokeball across the counter, and she turned immediately to her computer without another word. It was clear the boy had been dismissed, and Will felt indignant on behalf of him.

The boy remained silent, his shoulders falling just a fraction, before he pivoted on the spot and headed back outside, gaze firmly fixed on the ground.

He pushed past Will, who could only send Nurse Joy a disapproving look as he went outside as well, the door closing loudly behind him.

“Hey!” Will called out - he made sure he wasn’t loud enough to wake the oddish in his arms - and jogged after the brunet.

“Man, you walk fast.” Will huffed, slowing down once he had the attention of the other boy, who had whipped around to stare at Will with wide eyes.

Will faltered, blinking dumbly as he finally saw the boy’s face and realized where he had seen him before.

“Oh! It’s you!” he exclaimed, grinning. “You’re okay!”

“...What?” the boy bit out, scowling at Will with confusion and red rimmed eyes.

His voice was rough and quiet, and Will liked it a lot for some reason. It fit him.

“Whaddya mean, what? I saved your life! Your claydol led me to you!”

“Huh? You-...” the boy’s eyes went wide again and he stiffened in visible surprise. “That was you?”

Will only beamed in reply, too overwhelmed by the fact that the boy was really alright to reply.

"...Thank you. I owe you my life" The brunet turned serious again, and he nodded like he had just signed his will. No pun intended.

"Wh- wait, no, that's-!" Will frantically shook his head, his grip on the oddish tightening a little in his surprised panic. "That sounds so ominous! Please no!"

The boy frowned, brows furrowed. "But...I do."

"Well - well, geez, don't say it like that! I was just doing what any normal person would!" Will stuttered, eyes wide. 

...he must have said something wrong, because the other boy became even colder than before, though he didn't seem mad at Will or anything.

He fixed Will with a very interesting look, one Will couldn't really figure out.

When it became clear he wasn't going to say anything, Will awkwardly cleared his throat and offered another smile.

"Well...my name is Will! It's great to finally meet you!"

This got another nod from the boy, who took a few moments before seemingly realizing he was supposed to reply.

"Nico. I - my name." he got out after a minute, shifting in place.

Nico...what a pretty name.

...By the faint color on the boy - Nico's - face, Will said that out loud.

Oops.

"I uh - Nico! That's - um, a good name. It's - it fits." The blond stuttered through an excuse, feeling his face heat up more and more with each word.

The look Nico gave him might have been a smile if Will squinted and tilted his head. It was nice either way. It made Nico seem younger, kinder - a smile was a good look on him. Distantly, Will made it his goal to see a full-blown smile on that pretty face one day.

"...Do you need something else?" Nico asked bluntly, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Oh! Uh, well, I...where are you headed?" Will desperately searched for a reason to keep the conversation going.

Nico raised an eyebrow as if he saw right through Will's petty scheme. "Castelia. I have an appointment there."

"Oh? Hey, I'm going to Nimbasa, so I'll be passing through there, too! Gotta get some paperwork done for this cutie here." Will smiled as he nodded to the sleeping oddish in his arms. 

Nico tilted his head a fraction to the side - _cute_ \- as he glanced between the oddish and Will in a silent question.

"It's - well, it's a foster." Will explained carefully. "Um, not quite fit for a new trainer right now, y'know? So I'm taking care of it for now, uh that's my job I guess, it's-"

"I do the same." Nico cut him off, much to Will's relief.

It was always difficult explaining that no, he wasn't _technically_ a trainer and yes, it was what he wanted to do, and yes, he has his own team, but it was complicated...and so on, and so on.

"Oh, that's - hey, that's cool!" Will beamed, relief giving way to excitement. It was rare he met someone else in his field, so to say, that he didn't already know. "Is - was that what you were doing? Back in the center?"

A small grimace crossed Nico's face, and he nodded.

"...Ah, gotcha." Will continued after a pause. "Can I - can I ask what-?"

"Espurr." Nico answered shortly, hand absently moving to cover the pokeball - which Will belatedly noticed was in a case clipped to his waist.

Cute.

"Mh, oh, an espurr?" The blond repeated, tearing his gaze from how light and tender Nico's hand was on the six pokeballs on his belt to look back at his face.

Then he frowned.

"Wait, an espurr? Then why did Nurse Joy look so - so mean?"

Nico blinked, as if that wasn't the question he had been expecting. He scowled. "People don't trust things they don't understand." he said softly, both resigned and angry at the same time.

Will's frown softened and he sighed in understanding. "Man, I hate it when that happens. I'm - for what it's worth, I'm sorry you gotta go through that. It's...tough."

Nico shifted again, looking away with a tiny sound.

Will immediately felt bad and winced, trying to backpedal the conversation.

"I didn't - sorry, I don't want to assume, but...I mean, with the claydol and the phantump I just figured ghosts were more your-"

"Wait, you met my phantump?" Nico interrupted, dark eyes back on Will and _very_ intense this time.

“What? Yeah, I - we hung out a little while I was,” Will looked Nico up and down, “fixing you up. It’s very cute!”

Nico frowned again. Will was beginning to think that was Nico’s default expression.

“That’s...” Nico trailed off, looking at Will like he was seeing him for the first time, before he shook his head. “Nothing, nevermind. I should be going.” The brunet glanced over Will’s shoulder towards the pokecenter, then back at Will for a single moment.

Panic shot through Will as he realized that he might not ever see Nico again. Unova was a huge place, it was enough of a miracle that they met twice.

As Nico turned and started walking down the path again, Will blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Let me come with you!”

Nico paused and glanced over his shoulder. “...What?”

What, indeed. Will had as much of an idea as Nico did.

“I...you heard me. Let me come to Castelia City with you, Nico.”

For a tense minute, Will hoped Nico would say yes.

At the moment, it was all Will wanted.

So when Nico shook his head without a word and kept walking, the blond’s brow furrowed before he caught up to Nico anyways, walking alongside him.

Nico glanced at him, head barely turning. “It’s not safe, Will. You can’t come with me.”

“First of all, that’s not true and you know it.” Will gave the other boy a stern look, before continuing. “Second, maybe I just so happen to be travelling in the same direction you are, huh? There’s nothing wrong with that. ’sides, I don’t like going by myself.”

That wasn't true, but Nico didn’t need to know that.

Speaking of, a quick, sneaky look at Nico showed he was frowning - again - as he kept his gaze on the path in front of them.

Well...that wasn’t a no? Will would take it.

“So-”

“You better be able to keep up.” Nico interrupted, meeting Will’s eyes.

...Huh?

“Huh?”

“You heard me. I’m not here to - to sight-see, or whatever. I have a job to do. You’ll need to keep up.”

When Will stared after him, bewildered, Nico only gave him a tiny almost-smile and kept walking.

“...Is that a yes?” The taller boy asked hopefully while he kept by Nico’s side, grinning. “Am I your travelling buddy now? Oh! Can we have a name? Like, a duo name? That would be _so_ cool, I’ve never done that before! Ooh, we’re gonna have so much fun! I can’t wait for you to meet my team! They’re gonna love you...”

As Will talked, he thought over everything that had happened. The night certainly hadn’t gone like he expected, but...as he saw Nico’s almost smile carefully grow into the shadow of a real one when he thought Will wasn’t looking...

...it just almost felt like destiny.

**Author's Note:**

> surprise, cj!!!! i'm your secret santa, and this is your gift! (i know it's almost february it's fine this is fine-)
> 
> anyways, i've been working on this fic for MONTHS and i have so many more planned in this series. keep ur eyes open for when i post the next part, in about 3-5 business years.
> 
> (also, i know i took a lot of liberties with how the pokemon act but that's how i wanted it. also also, the word pokemon isn't capitalized for a reason, just like how the actual pokemon - espurr, claydol, etc - aren't capitalized. my thought process was essentially "you don't refer to a cat as a Cat" yknow? 
> 
> hope that makes sense lol
> 
> anyways, hope u enjoyed! tell me what you thought below! :3
> 
> (ps, i'm so tired and i've been looking at this document for so. so long. thus, it's not edited. let me know if you see any mistakes or anything. thank you)


End file.
